SQLException " Unsupported major.minor version 52.0" when connecting to a JDBC database

SYMPTOM

When connecting to a JDBC database, an error message similar to the following ones is displayed.

Example 1:

java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: org/postgresql/Driver : Unsupported major.minor version 52.0
 at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
 at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:791)
 at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:142)
 at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:449)
 at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$100(URLClassLoader.java:71)
 at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:361)
 at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:355)
 at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
 at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:354)
 at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:423)
 at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:356)
 at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
 at java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:188)

 

Example 2:

Caused by: java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: com/mysql/cj/jdbc/Driver : Unsupported major.minor version 52.0
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)
at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$100(Unknown Source)
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
at java.lang.Class.forName(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSource.createConnectionFactory(BasicDataSource.java:1415)

Solution

Check if your Java version and JDBC driver version are compatible by using the database documentation.

For example:
Postgresql: https://jdbc.postgresql.org/download.html
MySQL: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/connector-j/5.1/en/connector-j-versions.html